A. Human Immune Interferon
Human interferons can be classified in three groups on the basis of different antigenicity and biological and biochemical properties.
The first group comprises a family of leukocyte interferons (.alpha.-interferon, LeIF or IFN-.alpha.), which are normally produced mainly by constituent cells of human blood upon viral induction. These have been microbially produced and found to be biologically active (1, 2, 3). Their biological properties have prompted their use in the clinic as therapeutic agents for the treatment of viral infections and malignant conditions (4).
In the second group is human fibroblast interferon (.beta.-interferon, FIF or IFN-.beta.), normally produced by fibroblasts upon viral induction, which has likewise been microbially produced and found to exhibit a wide range of biological activities (5). Clinical trials also indicate its potential therapeutic value. The leukocyte and fibroblast interferons exhibit very clear similarities in their biological properties despite the fact that the degree of homology at the amino acid level is relatively low. In addition, both groups of interferons contain from 165 to 166 amino acids and are acid stable proteins.
The human immune interferon (.gamma.-interferon, IIF or IFN-.gamma.), to which this invention is directed, is, in contrast to the .alpha.- and .beta.-interferons, pH 2 labile, is produced mainly upon mitogenic induction of lymphocytes and is also clearly antigenically distinct. Until recently human immune interferon could only be detected in very minor levels, which evidently hampered its characterization. Recently, a rather extensive but still partial purification of human immune interferon has been reported (6). The compound was said to be produced from lymphocyte cultures stimulated with a combination of phytohaemagglutin and a phorbol ester and purified by sequential chromatographic separations. This procedure resulted in a product having a molecular weight of 58,000.
Human immune interferon has been produced in very low amounts by translating mRNA in oocytes, showing interferon activity characteristic of human immune interferon and expressing the hope that immune interferon cDNA could be synthesized and cloned (7).
The amount of immune interferon obtained until now is certainly insufficient to carry out unambiguous experiments on the characterization and biological properites of the purified component. However, in vitro studies performed with crude preparations, as well as in vivo experiments with murine .gamma.-interferon preparations, suggest that the primary function of immune interferon may be as an immunoregulatory agent (8, 9). Immune interferon has not only an antiviral and anticellular activity in common to all human interferons, but shows a potentiating effect on these activities with .alpha.- and .beta.-interferon (10). Also, the invitro antiproliferative effect of .gamma.-interferon on tumor cells is reported to be approximately 10- to 100-fold that of the other interferon classes (8, 11, 12). This result, together with its pronounced immunoregulatory role (8, 9), suggests a much more pronounced antitumoral potency for IFN-.gamma. than for IFN-.alpha. and IFN-.beta.. Indeed, in vivo experiments with mice and murine IRN-.gamma. preparations show a clear superiority over antivirally induced interferons in its antitumoral effect against osteogenic sarcoma (13).
All of these studies, until the present invention, had to be performed with rather crude preparations, due to the very low availability. However, they certainly suggest very important biological functions for immune interferon. Not only has immune interferon a potent associated antiviral activity, but probably also a strong immunoregulatory and antitumoral activity, clearly pointing to a potentially very promising clinical candidate.
It was perceivd that the application of recombinant DNA technology would be a most effective way of providing the requisite larger quantities of human immune interferon. Whether or not the materials so produced would include glycosylation which is considered characteristic of native, human derived material, they would probably exhibit bioactivity admitting of their use clinically in the treatment of a wide range of viral, neoplastic, and immunosuppressed conditions or diseases.
B. Recombinant DNA Technology
Recombinant DNA technology has reached the age of some sophistication. Molecular biologists are able to recombine various DNA sequences with some facility, creating new DNA entities capable of producing copious amounts of exogenous protein product in transformed microbes. The general means and methods are in hand for the in vitro ligation of various blunt ended or "sticky" ended fragments of DNA, producing potent expression vehicles useful in transforming particular organisms, thus directing their efficient synthesis of desired exogenous product. However, on an individual product basis, the pathway remains somewhat tortuous and the science has not advanced to a stage where regular predictions of success can be made. Indeed, those who portend successful results without the underlying experimental basis, do so with considerable risk of inoperability.
The plasmid, a nonchromosomal loop of double-stranded DNA found in bacteria and other microbes, oftentimes in multiple copies per cell, remains a basic element of recombinant DNA technology. Included in the information encoded in the plasmid DNA is that required to reproduce the plasmid in daughter cells (i.e., an origin of replication) and ordinarily, one or more phenotypic selection characteristics such as, in the case of bacteria, resistance to antibiotics, which permit clones of the host cell containing the plasmid of interest to be recognized and preferentially grown in selective media. The utility of plasmids lies in the fact that they can be specifically cleaved by one or another restriction endonuclease or "restriction enzyme", each of which recognizes a different site on the plasmid DNA. Thereafter heterologous genes of gene fragments may be inserted into the plasmid by endwise joining at the cleavage site or at reconstructed ends adjacent to the cleavage site. Thus formed are so-called replicable expression vehicles. DNA recombination is performed outside the cell, but the resulting "recombinant" replicable expression vehicle, or plasmid, can be introduced into cells by a process known as transformation and large quantities of the recombinant vehicle obtained by growing the transformant. Moreover, where the gene is properly inserted with reference to portions of the plasmid which govern the transcription and translation of the encoded DNA message, the resulting expression vehicle can be used to actually produce the polypeptide sequence for which the inserted gene codes, a process referred to as expression.
Expression is initiated in a region known as the promoter which is recognized by and bound by RNA polymerase. In the transcription phase of expression, the DNA unwinds, exposing it as a template for initiated synthesis of messenger RNA from the DNA sequence. The messenger RNA is, in turn, translated into a polypeptide having the amino acid sequence encoded by the mRNA. Each amino acid is encoded by a nucleotide triplet or "codon" which collectively make up the "structural gene", i.e. the part which encodes the amino acid sequence of the expressed polypeptide product. Translation is initiated at a "start" signal (ordinarily ATG, which in the resulting messenger RNA becomes AUG). So-called stop codons define the end of translation and, hence, of production of further amino acid units. The resulting product may be obtained by lysing, if necessary, the host cell, in microbial systems, and recovering the product by appropriate purification from other proteins.
In practice, the use of recombinant DNA technology can express entirely heterologous polypeptides--so-called direct expression--or alternatively may express a heterologous polypeptide fused to a portion of the amino acid sequence of a homologous polypeptide. In the latter cases, the intended bioactive product is sometimes rendered bioinactive within the fused, homologous/heterologous polypeptide until it is cleaved in an extracellular environment. See British Patent Publ. No. 2007676A and Wetzel, American Scientist 68, 664 (1980).
C. Cell Culture Technology
The art of cell or tissue cultures for studying genetics and cell physiology is well established. Means and methods are in hand for maintaining permanent cell lines, prepared by successive serial transfers from isolate normal cells. For use in research, such cell lines are maintained on a solid support in liquid medium, or by growth in suspension containing support nutriments. Scale-up for large preparations seems to pose only mechanical problems. For further background, attention is directed to Microbiology, 2nd Edition, Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc. Hagerstown, Md. (1973) especially pp. 1122 et seq, and Scientific American 245, 66 et seq. (1981), each of which is incorporated herein by this reference.